I met Maria when I was in middle school in my ESL class. Maria and her brother where adopted from Russia when she was 14 and her brother was 11. When she start the ESL classes with us she did not even know how to say hello. A couple months past by with all the help of our ESL teacher, Ms. Philips, she start learning English. It was so amazing how quickly she learned. Her main reasons for pushing herself to learn the language were her adopted parents, because it was hard for her and her brother to communicate with them. Now I think about her as an inspiration for how teachers and different people in our lives can change to something positive. Her story is truly a Uniting America story.